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Sunny days, fine food & good company could sum up my first week on Vancouver island. In between working hard on filming and editing, it’s a great place to be. I’m based at Comox on the East coast finishing off the filming for an instructional rolling DVD that I’ve been making with Cheri Perry & Turner Wilson this year. We’ve already spent a couple of weeks filming in Wales & Scotland, aswell as getting some great clear underwater footage from Sicily last year. With another week to go filming on Vancouver island  so we are on the home straight. Well, it still feels like we have a lot to do but we’ve got a rough cut of about an hour so far which covers the standard Greenland layback roll in a lot of detail, aswell as some of the more advanced Greenland style rolls. Extras include a chapter demonstrating some stretching exercises to help with flexibility for rolling & a chapter on outfitting your kayak for rolling. We’re working on the forward finishing rolls right now.

I’m very grateful to the lovely Monica & Trevor Russell for hosting us all while we are here. Cheri and Turner have stayed with them before as they have run rolling classes in Comox for 3 years now, and have got to know Monica, Trevor and their 2 sons. We’ve all enjoyed delicious meals together every day- none yet prepared by me, as I’ve been glued to my computer quite a bit, editing things together. So big thanks to the Russells’ and Cheri for feeding me and for feeding me so well.

I have been on the water a few times – I had a go at some of the rolls one day, and went for a lovely local paddle with Monica, Trevor & Doug (followed by some rolling practice …. they LOVE their rolling here!).

The rolling DVD will be released in November this year and will be called….. you might have guessed……..

THIS IS THE ROLL!!

More details will be given out over the next couple of months.

For various reasons, I’ve not been kayaking much lately so yesterday Barry & I accepted an invitation for a mid-week play at Penrhyn Mawr tidal race. After a spell of torrential rain & chilly days, Wednesday dawned sunny and relatively windless. Perfect for playing out! We arrived at the race just before mid-tide and maximum current flow, so Penrhyn Mawr was quite fast flowing to start with. If you failed to catch waves and surf forwards then you were soon swept backwards behind the fun waves and were forced to head sideways to the eddy to make your way up to the front again. After an hour the flow eased off a bit and the waves seemed to grow and take on more shape… the surfing was great fun – just what the doctor ordered.

It was sociable on the water. Axel & Karien were there enjoying their last day paddling in Wales, and BCU Level 5 coach Nick Cunliffe, Matt Gilblin & Ulirka Larsson were filming rescues and towing for their next instructional DVD. Barry was drafted in to do some rescuing. Rather him than me, I’m involved in filming often enough and I was enjoying playing this time! Remember we have copies of Nick’s instuctional DVD “Seakayak Essentials” in our Stores. It’s just £19.99 or US $35, with free postage.

This is a year of a lot of traveling for me, and tomorrow I head to Vancouver  (and thanks to a lift with John Gamba) onwards to Vancouver island. I’ll spend a month there, initially finishing the filming of an instructional rolling DVD that I’m making with Cheri Perry & Turner Wilson. Then I’ll join good friends Shawna Franklin & Leon Somme for 10 days of their leisurely circumnavigation of Vancouver island. Bring it on!

4 years in the making, “Canoeing” by Ray Goodwin is finally here! And the 225 page book by the UK’s best known open canoeing paddler & coach is definitely worth the wait.  Ray Goodwin is not only a BCU level 5 coach in canoe, but also in seakayaks and river kayaks!

He has decades of experience at canoeing & has undertaken pioneering journeys like canoeing all the way around Wales & across the Irish sea. His modern book draws on his vast experience and talent in covering all aspects of the open canoe, from design to wilderness travel & the stokes you need to move your canoe where you want it to go. It’s packed full of information and is a bargain at just £16.99. If you buy the book from Cackle TV, we’ll also give you a free film of Ray canoe sailing on Bala lake & paddling and poling on the River Dee. You’ll be sent a free link to download this 7 minute film  from the DVD “This is Canoeing” when we receive your purchase. For more information about the book – see here.

Or if you prefer to buy the whole award winning DVD “This is Canoeing” featuring 12 award-winning open canoeing films, then you can save £5 if you order the book and DVD together. It’s the perfect present for the canoeist in your life (or yourself!) – a gift to inspire you and instruct you in the art of canoeing!

Postage and Packing is free within the UK, but there is a charge to post it abroad as it’s a big and heavy book.

Buy now here, or visit our store.

I’ve edited 3 videos from my cycling trip to Kazakhstan and China with Sarah.

If you’re interested… here they are!

Highs and Lows on the Road

Crossing the Chinese Border

Chinese Mountain Climb